


Direction

by MissLearn



Series: Walking in his Shoes [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Jedi Apprentice Series - Jude Watson & Dave Wolverton, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Bodyswap, Crack Treated Seriously, Ficlet, Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 09:14:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12701859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissLearn/pseuds/MissLearn
Summary: Obi-Wan and Anakin choose their path after a little reflection time





	Direction

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Reflection Unknown](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12141663) by [Guardian_of_Hope](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guardian_of_Hope/pseuds/Guardian_of_Hope). 



> Thanks again to Guardian_of_Hope for letting me twist their idea! (Go check out their story ^^^)  
> And, thank you to my amazing beta who edited this for me. Once again, I couldn't resist making changes so all errors are my own.
> 
> So, in my notes on Backstep I said I was keeping these 'happy'... Apparently I lied. Not that this is dark, it's just not as light as I wanted. It's all Master Kenobi's fault - he's just so sad (which is something I fully intend to fix in future stories.)

 

 

Anakin stared, awestruck, into the mirror in front of him. He was in the small fresher that was attached to the room in the Halls of Healing that he'd been hurried into earlier, after he'd "fainted". The healer who had spent the last twenty minutes checking him over had just left to talk to Master Windu, Master Yoda, and Master Jinn who were all dutifully waiting outside. So, having caught sight of the mirror earlier, he'd snatched the opportunity to look at himself.

“Wow,” he mumbled, as he took in his new reflection. Short auburn hair, blue-gray eyes, thin lips and dimpled chin – Obi-Wan, but younger, with smoother skin and less sharp angles to his face. It was kind of amazing, in a way that was, at the same time, completely weird and kind of terrifying.

“What am I supposed to do now?” he asked the boy in the mirror, because this was definitely an Obi-Wan problem.

Thinking about it, Anakin was pretty sure that _his_ Obi-Wan would reply with something along the lines of, “Tell them the truth, Anakin,” but he’d already decided that wasn’t going to work here. Not only was he skeptical that the Masters would actually believe him, the risks involved were too high for even him to take.

Obi-Wan wasn’t as powerful as him… Not that his Master wasn’t strong in the Force (the opposite really), but the difference was noticeable. However, his Master did have his own gifts and ever since Anakin had arrived he’d found that whenever he looked to the Force for guidance, the Cosmic Force leapt out to greet him, waiting to show him ALL the resulting possibilities of his decisions.

It first happened when he was lying on the floor of the dojo, cursing his predicament. Trying to decide what to do, he haphazardly grabbed at the Force and somehow just _slipped_ into a light meditation (it was no kriffing wonder his Master thought meditating was _simple_ ). In seconds, he had been surrounded by thousands of colorful threads, all shooting out from him and disappearing into the distance, unending.

Anakin knew they were the many paths of the future, but he had no idea how to navigate them; so he decided to keep his mouth shut because it didn’t take a genius to figure out that in some of those futures Obi-Wan and he never meet.

 _And that’s not an option,_ he thought stubbornly.

Things between them might have been tense lately (the Hardeen mission had seen to that!), but that didn’t mean he wanted to erase himself from his Master’s life! If not for Obi-Wan he wouldn’t be a Jedi… and, Obi-Wan was… _family_.

Anakin closed his – little Obi-Wan’s – eyes and let out a frustrated sigh.

Unfortunately the only other option he could come up with was to try and _be_ Obi-Wan (at least until he could figure out what happened and get himself home), and he wasn’t certain that was the best idea either. If he messed up his Master’s life he would still be putting his own in jeopardy, _and_ he would be ruining his Master’s start.

Opening his eyes again, he noted that his reflection was now giving him _that_ look that Obi-Wan wore. The one that revealed his rapidly cracking patience.

“If you have any better ideas of what to do, feel free to share,” he grumbled, despite knowing that the reflection, and _that_ _look_ , currently belonged to him.

Anakin ran a hand through his – little Obi-Wan’s – short hair. Surely he could do this. He was a Knight; he had the knowledge and skills to be a model student, hell, he could be the best Initiate ever! And, it wasn’t as though it was that hard to catch Master Qui-Gon’s notice, he’d done it as a slave on Tatooine... it shouldn’t be that hard to do it in Obi-Wan’s skin. Especially considering they were fated to be Master and Apprentice.

The sound of a door opening and approaching voices interrupted his thoughts, alerting him that his time was up.

“I can pretend to be you,” he told his reflection stubbornly, “I know you as well as I know myself.”

But the boy in the mirror did not look convinced.

 

* * *

 

Obi-Wan gazed out the small, sand-scratched window of Anakin’s room. It was early evening and the red-gold glow of the set suns was still just visible on the horizon as stars began to sparkle in the dark sky overhead. There was a beauty about it that Obi-Wan would normally have appreciated, but his mind was far too busy trying to make sense of his current situation.

Catching sight of his reflection in the corner of the glass, Obi-Wan stared into the bright blue eyes that belonged to his former Padawan. He didn’t look that much different to when Obi-Wan had first met him on Queen Amidala’s ship, with his round face, big blue eyes and shaggy blond hair.

The Master hoped that meant it wouldn’t be too long before Qui-Gon came to Tatooine… But that brought a whole number of other questions that he wasn’t ready to answer. Such as, what would happen to his Padawan’s future if he revealed the truth? Did he dare risk Anakin’s life in order to what- find a way home? Save his Master? Save the galaxy from the Clone Wars? And what did it say about him if he chose to ensure his former apprentice’s future instead of helping the Jedi stop the Clone Wars before they begin?

Obi-Wan shook his head, deciding to focus on the questions that were relevant to right now, like: how and why was this happening? And was his only option really to live Anakin’s life? To pretend to be his former Padawan’s younger self until a solution presented itself?

 _If I do something wrong I could get him killed!_ Obi-Wan thought, knowing from his own brief time as a slave that it was hard, cruel life.

“We had so many years to talk about it, and yet…” He trailed off because ruing missed opportunities was currently a waste of time and energy.

Forgetting his broken arm, Obi-Wan yelped in pain when he attempted to bring his hands to his face. He looked down at it, touching the makeshift cloth bandages that Anakin’s Mother had carefully, _lovingly_ wrapped around his arm while she struggled to hold back her tears.

He wished he’d said something to the kind woman. He knew Anakin would have been reassuring her with a rush of words and smiles but he hadn’t been able to find anything to say. He had been too focused on fighting away his own tears because he knew _exactly_ what it felt like to come so close to losing a… _Anakin._

Obi-Wan shook his head, then wiped his now watery eyes on the back of his sandy sleeve and took in a few calming breaths. He would have liked to meditate - he _needed_ to meditate - but he was a little apprehensive about doing so.

Anakin was not only more powerful, but his strength lay in the Living Force, like Master Qui-Gon’s had. So it was _right there_. He didn’t have to reach for the Force because it was wrapped around him, constantly - _desperately -_ prodding him to go this way, to do that, to fix this, to move that there, and truly it was no wonder his boy had never been able to sit still. If it wasn’t for his injuries he doubted he would have stayed in the seat for as long as he had and he was honestly afraid of what he might find if he dove in.

“Ani! Dinner!” Anakin’s mother called from the kitchen, interrupting his thoughts.

Taking a deep breath he yelled back, “Coming!” just as his Padawan had often shouted at him. He closed his eyes, listening as Anakin’s – _his –_ youthful tones carried themselves out to Shmi. It was going to take some getting used to... But, he would endure because there was absolutely no doubt in his mind that the Force had willed this.

“And I am duty bound to serve. I am a Jedi,” Obi-Wan reminded himself quietly before he tentatively pulled himself up with his good hand, wincing as pain raced along his nerves.

But, as he slowly limped back towards the door, his mind, quite unhelpfully, supplied that all that meant was that he had very little knowledge of how to be a young Anakin Skywalker.

**Author's Note:**

> Any thoughts on how long they're going to last? XD


End file.
